


One Thousand Six Hundred and Twenty Seven

by InquiryFoxtrot



Series: Keeping Tally [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Foster Care, Gen, Slight Anxiety, aka i torture the twins to cope, bc i love this au, griffins gonna need to arrest me, idk theres not much this update, im calling this au keeping tally, ish, its hurt/comfort wrapped up in a bow, rest of the series though?, the twins are foster kids, wowie im sorry taako
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 15:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15584505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InquiryFoxtrot/pseuds/InquiryFoxtrot
Summary: On August 27th, 2018, it was raining. Which was fitting, Taako supposed. It was raining and the Taaco twins felt like the world was ending.





	One Thousand Six Hundred and Twenty Seven

Taako carefully folded his last tank top and slowly lowered it into his suitcase. He looked in the toiletries pocket and checked again that everything was in there- brush, toothbrush, toothpaste, emergency shampoo and conditioner, face wash, hair cream. He closed the pocket and flipped the top of the suitcase over with a soft thump. He then zipped the case close as slowly as he could, counting the click of each tooth as it connected with its opposite. 

Click. One. Click. Two. Click. Three. Click. Four. 

It was the third time he’d emptied his suitcase and packed it again that day, but only the first time today counting the zippers. He couldn’t help it, he needed something to do, something to keep his mind busy while avoiding the unwanted attention of the other kids there. So he pulled the zipper comically slow and counted.

Click. Fourteen. Click. Fifteen. Click. Sixteen.

Lup was sitting next to him by the desk, toying with her lighter. She was in the middle of one of her favorite patterns, one she developed when she picked the lighter off some guy at the mall two years ago. Light the candle. Blow it out. Flick the lighter on. Release the trigger to put it out. Light the candle. Blow it out. Flick the lighter on. Release the trigger to put it out.

Click. Thirty two. Click. Thirty three. Click. Thirty four. Click. Thirty five.

It was raining. August 27th, 2018. Cloudy with an 85% chance of showers. Taako supposed the 85% had won out today. He was tempted to count the raindrops on the window but it was raining too hard to get a precise number, and the water kept washing the previous droplets away. He had tried to count them once in the car when he was ten, his aunt had taken them to the amusement park and the car ride had been three hours long. The droplets kept moving and adding and replacing themselves, it was too hard to count them and Taako had gotten so frustrated he started crying. His Aunt hadn’t known what was wrong and they almost had to cancel the whole trip. So he counted the zipper instead, it was a comforting constant.

Click. Seventy eight. Click. Seventy nine.

Istus was late. It was 5:27. She was supposed to arrive at 3:15 between 4 seconds and 36 seconds. He had stopped counting the seconds at 5:19 and 42 seconds to start counting the zippers instead. He hoped Lup was counting for him. But he doubted it, Lup liked patterns, Taako liked numbers. She only counted for Taako in emergencies, and vice versa for her patterns, and this was not an emergency. 

He looked at Lup again. She was still playing with her lighter. Light the candle. Blow it out. Flick the lighter on. Release the trigger to put- 

One of the kids, Taako thought his name was Sam, bounced over to Lup to inspect what she was doing. He was new to the system, only a couple months in and two or three years younger than the twins. Taako hated the weasel, he smelled, messed up Taako’s counting, and, worst of all, bothered Lup. Sam leaned in, admiring the flame Lup had lit as it flickered ceremoniously on the candle wick. He frowned as she blew it out. 

“Why’d you do that?” He complained, whipping his head up towards Lup. “I was watching that fire.” Lup flinched as he spoke, snapping out of her daze. She instantly narrowed her eyes at him.

“It was my fire to begin with and I wanted to put it out,” She huffed and crossed her arms. Taako didn’t miss the tension in her shoulders, he knew how much she hated to have her patterns interrupted. 

Click. One hundred and eleven. Click. One hundred and twelve. Click. One hundred and thirteen.

“Still not fair,” Sam pouted, matching Lup’s annoyed demeanor. “You should really be nicer to me. I could tell Ms. Letti you’re being mean.” Taako paused a moment and looked up at the two, taking note of the fiery glare in Lup’s eyes before smirking and returning to his counting, Lup never backed down from a threat. She was better than Taako in that way.

“And then I could burn your tongue off for tattling. Who’d be the real winner then?” Lup smiled coldly and went back to lighting a flame, lighting the candle, blowing it out, etc. Taako knew she wasn’t being serious. It was the one rule they had in all their homes: never mess with other kids. But it was fun to scare them once in a while, especially if the twins were leaving before the day was up. Taako found it was easier if they hated you when you left, than to miss you when you’re gone. Sam’s eyes widened as he watch Lup continue to light her fires and he scurried away, probably to cry to Letti.

It was 5:31, Taako hoped Istus would be here soon. He would be pretty miffed if they had to wait until August 28th, 2018. One thousand six hundred and twenty seven felt better in Taako’s mind than one thousand six hundred and twenty eight. Taako preferred numbers with sevens in them to any other number. He didn’t really know why, he just did. 

Click. Two hundred and forty five. Click. Two hundred and forty six. Click. Two hundred and forty seven.

He wished Istus would tell them more about the homes they went to before they got there. Taako liked to be prepared. If he and Lup needed to run then Taako wanted time to get ready. He wanted to know the nearest bus stop, DMV, the cheapest motel. He was always ready to drop off the grid, something he wished he could do more often, if he was being honest.  
Istus didn’t tell them much about this new home, only that they were staying with a middle aged couple and their two foster kids. Taako hated sharing a foster home. It was hard enough dealing with the foster parents. Foster siblings were even harder. Sometimes Taako found they were harder to deal with than biological kids. At least with biological kids everyone knew their place; the bio kid was the real child, and Lup and Taako were a necessary inconvenience. With other foster kids it was a gamble on who would be favored and why, unwanted friendships, assholes who made life miserable for everyone, toss in all the traumatic system backstories and you had a house full of kids just as fucked up as Taako. He could barely deal with his and Lup’s own fuck-ups, he didn’t need to worry about anyone else’s. 

Taako huffed and started clicking faster. It’d be annoying if Istus got here before Taako finished counting. It would leave him restless for the rest of the day, or what was left of it. It was 5:38 now, Taako briefly wondered how bad the traffic was. 

Click. Three hundred and eighty nine. Click. Three hundred and ninety. Click. Three hundred and ninety one.

Lup made her way over to where Taako was sitting. Sinking to the ground next to him and resting her back against their shared twin bed that sat behind them. 

“You counting?” She asked, linking her pinky with Taako’s free hand.

“Yeah,” He replied. Click. Four hundred and fifty three. “Sorry about Sam, he’s a dick.” Lup smirked.

“It’s fine, never seeing the little gremlin again anyway,” She waved her other hand flippantly before pausing, tilting her head to the side and letting a short laugh puff out of her. “Did you say his name was Sam?” Taako let go of the zipper, making a mental mark of where he was (five hundred and two) and turned to her.

“Yeah, did you not know?” He asked lightly, knitting his brows when she started to laugh harder.

“No I didn’t, I’ve been convinced his name was Daniel for the past three weeks,” She joked and Taako gave her a lazy grin.

“Well, I don’t know who your informant is but they really need to step up their game,” He retorted. He glanced at the time again, 5:53. Lup noticed him looking and frowned, the joking atmosphere dissolving in an instant.

“She’s late,” Lup said.

“Very late,” Taako finished. 

“Do you want to go back to counting?” Lup asked and Taako shook his head.

“Nah, I got a feeling I won’t be able to finish and I’d much rather talk to you then get annoyed at a zipper,” He replied and cast his suitcase a scornful look before zipping it up the rest of the way. Normally, he’d be more upset with that but he’d counted his suitcase before, and when the three thousand five hundred sixty fourth, and final, tooth clicked into place he gave his attention back to Lup. “But if she’s not here by six then I might start counting the seconds again.” 

“Again?” She asked. “When did you stop last time?”

“5:19,” Taako replied nonchalantly, leaning into Lup’s side. “I wanted to start counting my zippers.” Lup nodded and the two fell into a comfortable silence, squished together uncomfortably, elbows knocking and legs interweaving, just the way they liked it. Taako noticed Lup tapping a soft rhythm into her knee and Taako took that as the okay to start counting again. He watched the second hand on the traditional clock mounted on the wall move to forty three and began following along.

Tick. Fifty eight. Tick. Fifty nine. Tick. Sixty. Tick. One.

Istus didn’t arrive until 6:04 and twenty three seconds. Taako and Lup heard the sharp knock of the door downstairs and gathered their things wordlessly. Between them they only had two suitcases and a makeup bag, which on the one hand, was disgustingly sad and pretty hilarious from Taako’s perspective, but on the other hand made it very easy to pack up and go. Taako grabbed Lup’s hand and they made their way downstairs. As they passed the upstairs’ main hallway and neared the skinny spiral staircase at the end some of the younger kids poked their heads out, pouting at the sight of the twins’ bags. 

“Are Taako and Lup leaving?” One of the little girls asked from the doorway of her and three of the other girls bedroom. Her roommate, Sarah, slapped her elbow lightly.

“Yes, now shush, it’s none of your business,” She scolded the child and sent them an apologetic smile. Lup gave her a thankful one back but Taako didn’t miss the thinly veiled jealousy on Sarah’s face. He’d only spoken to Sarah a couple times, he and Lup tended to keep to themselves in group homes, but she’d never had a foster family before and always envied how Taako and Lup had been to several already. If only you knew, Taako thought and turned forward, shaking his head lightly. 

Taako lugged their suitcases down the steep stairs and deposited them on the floor with a thump. In front of him Letti stood with her arms crossed and back to the twins, chatting idly with Istus at the door. Istus’ hair was wet from the rain and she stayed in the small rectangular alcove with all the kids’ shoes and coats that connected to the kitchen and the rest of the house, to keep the main floor from getting wet. Taako made his way to the kitchen table, pulling out one of the wooden chairs and using it as a stepstool to get on top of the table, and waited for Istus and Letti to finish speaking.

“-I hope the twins weren’t too much trouble for you,” Istus was saying, her charming smile ever present on her face. Letti chuckled lightly, brushing her long hair away from her eyes.

“Not at all. Well, that’s a lie, but it was as little trouble as the twins could get into,” She joked. Letti was a kind old women in her sixties. She wore soft cardigans, summer dresses, and had billowing salt and pepper hair that she let fall over her shoulders in waves. She was definitely Taako’s favorite guardian, a fair lady and she seemed to want every child in her care happy. It was a nice contrast to what their guardians were normally like. She reminded Taako of their Aunt in a way, someone who only spread kindness and someone they definitely didn’t deserve, this was something he had to push out of his mind constantly, or else he might start crying. “The twins were a delight. I would say I’d love to see them again but I think we’re all hoping that doesn’t happen.” 

Taako’s breath hitched. It was the one downside to Letti, he hated how optimistic she was. She never understood the reality of their situation, it was almost a guarantee they’d be back here again. Best case scenario is they run away before anyone gets the chance to kick them out again. He almost wished they were staying. Here they could lay low here and wait to age out of the system, in a foster home anything was fair game. 

“Let’s hope luck is on our side then,” Istus smiled and peered over Letti’s shoulder, catching a glimpse of the twins. “Taako! Lup! It’s great to see you kids again.” Taako hopped off the table and walked over to her while Lup grabbed their bags. 

“You’re late,” Was all Lup remarked from behind them.

“Two hours, fifty one minutes, and thirteen seconds late,” Taako finished and Istus laughed.

“Yes, of course, sorry to keep you guys waiting, traffic was a nightmare,” She rolled her eyes. “People do not know how to drive in the rain. Are you two ready to go?” She opened the door, looking over her shoulder at the twins. “We’re already behind schedule and I want to get there as soon as possible. It’s going to be a long ride.” Taako glanced at Lup and then back at Istus before nodding.

“Ready as we’ll ever be,” He shrugged, taking his suitcase from his sister. “Thanks for everything Letti.” He added on softly. Part of him wanted to give her a hug, something way too sentimental for normal Taako, he frowned, he was getting too soft for his own good. Lup grabbed his wrist and started to pull him towards the door but Letti stopped them before she could. She grabbed them both into a tight hug, squeezing hard enough to be comforting but not too hard that she was suffocating them. Taako froze in her embrace, he didn’t know how to reciprocate, normal hugs were very different than twin hugs. He could feel goosebumps rising on Lup’s arms next to him.

“You two stay safe,” Letti whispered, if Taako didn’t know any better he’d say it sounded like she was choking up. “Remember that you are stronger than you’ll ever know.” She smelled like old books and jasmine tea. 

Letti released them quickly and ruffled their hair, pushing them out the door. Taako flipped his wide brimmed hat over his head just in time, saving his hair from the rain. Lup wasn’t as lucky, the downpour soaking her shoulder length hair instantly. Istus was waiting for them by the car, leaning on the door in a white raincoat. Taako and Lup ran down the sidewalk and popped open the trunk of Istus’ black Subaru. They dumped their bags in and raced around to the back seats, sliding in and slamming the door behind them. 

Istus ducked into the passenger side and turned around to the twins. “Kids, this is my friend Pan,” She gestured to the man in the driver’s seat. He was a short man in the fifties with curly brown hair, a well kept beard, and a pot belly. He grinned and waved at the two. “He’s friends with your new foster family and is helping us with drive up.”

“Thank you so much Mr. Pan,” Lup said, making sure to emphasize the “Mr,” some adults were really picky about respect. “I know it must’ve been hard finding us a home.” She muttered the phrase like they were words on a script. In a way, though, they were, the twins had spent years learning to pander to social workers and foster parents. But Pan laughed airily.

“Not at all, little miss. Merle’s an old friend of mine and he’s had a fair bit of experience fostering,” He smiled back at them and Taako noted that he had very red cheeks. He almost looked like Santa. A crusty, brown haired Santa. “And you can just call me Pan, ‘mister’ makes me sound like an old man.” The two sighed in relief as Pan started the car.

“We’re going to try and drive straight through but if you need us to stop for any reason just let me know, okay?” Istus said and looked at them through the rearview mirror. Taako nodded.

“Where are we going anyway?” He asked, drumming his fingers on his leg impatiently. 

“Oh! I can’t believe I haven’t told you guys yet, things have been busier than I thought they would be,” Istus laughed nervously. “We’re heading to a small town in West Virginia called Benevolence. It’s like an hour outside New Phandalin?” She turned to Pan for a confirmation, who nodded as they pulled out of Letti’s driveway and away from the kindest home the twins had had since their Aunt passed. Lup stared out the window, a look of mourning on her face while Taako gaped at the two adults.

“West Virginia?!” Taako cried in disbelief. He’d grown used to Houston, it was familiar now. West Virginia was almost twenty hours away. 

“Yeah, I think it’d be good for you two to get away from the city. There’s less, um, how to put this, bad influences,” Istus said in the tone of voice adults used when they thought you were just a dumb kid. He knew what she really meant, the twins were the bad influence. Taako had only been picked up for stealing once, a rookie mistake when he was thirteen, but it was no secret he still did it from time to time. And you had to be dense as bricks to not realize Lup was one more hit away from becoming a full time arsonist. 

Taako slumped in his seat. He hated small towns. It made him feel so vulnerable. In the city he and Lup could duck out at the drop of hat, vanishing into the huge city crowds and no one could find them. In small towns everyone knew who you were, if something changed in a small town then it was no secret. 

Taako let his knee bump into Lup’s and he reached out to hold her hand, he hoped the ride was quick. The quicker they got there the quicker the two could run away and the quicker Taako could finally, finally, disappear.

**Author's Note:**

> I made an au please love it. We'll meet the rest of the starblaster gang in the next update and then I will lessen my twin torture and their famiLY WILL LOVE THEM


End file.
